In Thursday’s (2/28) Los Angeles Times, Deborah Vankin writes, “San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet will play musical chairs this spring. A new cellist, USC graduate Sunny Jungin Yang will replace Jeffrey Zeigler, who is leaving Kronos to pursue solo projects and will join the faculty of Mannes College the New School for Music in New York. Yang, 28, was born in Incheon, South Korea and grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. She studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Distinguished cellist Ralph Kirshbaum served as a mentor at Manchester, England’s Royal Northern Conservatory of Music and USC, where Yang earned a master’s degree in music. … Kronos was founded in 1973 by violinist David Harrington, who still plays with the quartet and serves as artistic director. It’s had just four cellists in 40 years—Walter Gray, Joan Jeanrenaud (who had a 20-year run), Jennifer Culp and Zeigler. Yang will be its fifth. … Chemistry is integral to an ensemble like Kronos, which changes members infrequently. Yang says her tryouts with Kronos were seamless. … Yang’s debut with Kronos coincides with the quartet’s 40th anniversary season. Kronos has commissioned more than 800 new works and arrangements.”
Posted March 1, 2013
